Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Cartoon

A Round and a Roundy: The NYPD’s Racially Biased COVID-19 Enforcement Scandal

12:11 PM EDT on May 13, 2020

Cartoon: Bill Roundy

Editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy
Editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy

The mayor and police commissioner keep denying that NYPD officers are systematically carrying out social distancing enforcement in a racially biased manner, but our editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy isn't buying it.

Try as they might, the mayor and Commissioner Dermot Shea haven't been able to explain why 90 percent of summonses for failing to socially distance went to blacks and Hispanics. Even as they can't come up with the right words, they are starting to at least act: the city announced earlier in the week that it would send "ambassadors" rather than cops into parks to encourage people to do the right thing.

So maybe scenes of police aggression like the ones that have exploded on social media — and depicted in the editorial cartoon version above — won't happen going forward. But for now, Roundy will wait and see (pen poised for next week's toon).

This week's bonus cartoon follows Monday's edition in which Roundy punctured the balloon of hypocrisy surrounding the MTA's efforts to kick homeless people off the subway.

Brooklyn-based cartoonist Bill Roundy's prior work for Streetsblog is archived here.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Wednesday’s Headlines: Concerted Effort Edition

The Great Lawn will be closed to the public six weeks earlier than normal because of those damn rockers. Plus other news.

October 4, 2023

Broadway Vision: Watch 15 Years of Transformation in a Single Streetfilm

It's hard to see the big picture of just what has been accomplished between Times and Union squares. That's where Clarence Eckerson Jr. comes in.

October 4, 2023

What Do ‘Livable’ Streets Look Like in an Era of Driverless Cars?

In today's Brake podcast, Kea Wilson asks Bruce Appleyard what future livable streets have in a world of autonomous cars.

October 4, 2023

NYPD Steps Up Effort Against Illegal Mopeds, But Some Advocates Want a Different Approach

The NYPD seized some illegal wheels from delivery workers in the middle of their route on Wednesday, part of a stepped-up effort.

October 4, 2023

Astoria Organizers Lead the Way on Street Safety with a Reddit Strategy

The western Queens neighborhood has become a hub for a new kind of safe street advocacy.

October 3, 2023
See all posts